Repurposed
before repurposed
was cool drew
a following
to the holy land
of bizarre.
Eccentricity
punctuated
with concrete,
rock and kitchen sink
turned my
quiet street
into a parking lot.
Visitors spent
a dollar to view
the Nativity Rock Museum
located fifty feet
from my front door.
It was 1972
and I couldn’t
smoke enough
cannabis to
be convinced
my neighbor’s
creations were art.
It didn’t matter.
The sweet man
was consumed
with his vision.
I just tried to
give a smile
while listening
to Amazing Grace
and staring at
broken baby dolls
winking from
a cement cross.
©Susie Clevenger 2012
Real Toads Mary's Mixed Bag ~ Neighborhood
Mary challenged us to write about one of the
neighborhoods we have lived in or live in today.
Mine comes from the small town of Kearney, Missouri
where my husband and I lived next door to Claud Melton's Nativity Rock Museum.
He used cement, rock, toys, broken glass and anything else that tweaked his imagination
to create his art. Sadly it is no longer there. It succumbed to the more profitable vision of landlords whose muse told them to build duplexes.
Comments
Your talent for description made this long-gone neighborhood real for us. Thanks!
K